400th Anniversary of the King James Bible
Four hundred years ago a book was published in England by decree of James Stuart – better known as King James the First. It was not particularly popular or well-liked at the time, but it went on to become the most well-read book of the English- speaking world.
The “King James Bible” was born in 1611 against the backdrop of Elizabethan England, when the English language itself was coming into full flower. Shakespeare was writing and producing his most potent plays – King Lear, Othello and The Tempest. Society was wrestling with questions of religious freedom, universal rights, liberty of conscience and individual will, the very issues that would bring it into civil war a short time later.
The printing press had been invented by Gutenberg about 140 years earlier, initiating what might be called the first ‘social media’ revolution. In those days, new technologies took centuries to become mainstream. However by the 1600s, ordinary people were becoming able to read and get copies of books. Now having access to the ideas of others, they began to question established thinking and share their own thoughts and opinions with others – both processes being the real seeds of change.
However, one book remained largely off-limits. Still mostly in Latin or Greek, most Bibles were huge volumes in Latin, in the hands of the clergy. Some English translations, such as the Gutenberg, Wycliffe and Puritans’ Geneva Bible, had become more widely available. But if anything, these translations brought further strife and argument, and in fact there was even a law forbidding the Bible being translated into English. And still the average household still didn’t have a copy.
At the time, England was being unified with Scotland under one king. Raised in the brutal and clannish divisions of Scottish politics, James Stuart knew the costs of hatred and war. A controversial figure with a less than pure lifestyle (much like the historic figures of Biblical times), James had many flaws and faults. But despite them, he also firmly believed in the possibility of universal peace and unity.
King James’ overwhelming desire was to bring the many factions of his fractious, religiously-divided country together in unity. And as one step towards that end, he decided to create a new Bible, taken from the original Greek and Hebrew texts as well as other translations. It was to be one book that would be available to all, so that everyone could read from the same text. It should be available for all to read – openly, in their churches and homes.
In retrospect, it was a great feat that this translation happened at all. While the very concepts of humanity and its relationship to divinity were being hammered out, word by word, forces were marshaled against it. There were political agendas, fierce disagreements; even a terrorist plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament, all the drama of any modern-day story, and every bit as dramatic as Biblical events themselves.
In his book, God’s Secretaries, historian Adam Nicholson writes, “England was more godly and less godly than it had ever been.” He goes on to say that the King’s personal motto came from two words in the Sermon on the Mount: “Beati Pacifici,” or ‘blessed are the peacemakers.’ “The Bible that is named after James,” he says, “and whose translation was authorized by him, was central to his claim of that ideal.” (Nicholson’s book is a wonderful and well-researched read, and one that I’ve drawn on liberally for this writing.)
Whatever one thinks of the Bible, this was a version that changed history. No other translation brought such uniformity and universality to the English-speaking world than did the King James Version, and none became so universally accepted. The book has remained a central part of English Protestant faith including mine. It was the translation read at Prince William’s wedding to Catherine Middleton three weeks ago. It’s a book that has traveled across the globe to its remotest regions. It has inspired, healed and helped millions of its readers, and has survived 400 years of questions, challenges and criticism. That alone is something worth thinking about.
We take for granted our right to freedom of expression, the printed word being easily available, the right to speak our minds and to worship as we please. But we can perhaps remember that the right to do so was first fought and won through the struggle to have one book published freely in the language of its own country and read by every man. That book was The English Bible. The King James version was the both the first and the final episode of that struggle. In some countries, those rights are still being fought for.
Interesting Links
http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Secretaries-Making-James-Bible/dp/0060185163
http://www.marybakereddylibrary.org/exhibits/KJV
http://kjv400.co.uk
